Higher Occupational Prestige Research Articles

Doing the daily grind: The effects of domestic labor on professional, managerial, and technical workers’ earnings

Using two waves of data from the National Survey of Families and Households, I examined how domestic labor tasks including daily grind tasks, female-type and male-type tasks affected the earnings of workers in professional, managerial, and technical occupations in the short and long term. The results show that performing daily grind tasks reduces the earnings of college-educated workers in high prestige occupations immediately and over time. Further, domestic labor explained an additional 19 percent of the gap between the earnings of women and men in professional, managerial, and technical occupations. These results suggest that despite having jobs that offer higher pay and more autonomy, the time spent doing the daily grind, negatively affects earnings, especially for women in professional, managerial, and technical occupations.

Entrepreneurial ventures and wage differentials between Germans and immigrants

PurposeThis paper studies the entrepreneurial undertaking and economic success of immigrants and natives in Germany, namely the West Germans, the East Germans, the guestworkers, and other immigrants.Design/methodology/approachThe paper studies factors that affect the sorting of individuals into self‐employment and investigate whether the self‐employed fare better than the paid‐employed, and whether self‐employed immigrants fare better than Germans. Employing data from the German Socioeconomic Panel both the probability to choose self‐employment through a probit and the selection adjusted earnings are estimated.FindingsThe paper finds that the probability of self‐employment increases significantly with age for all ethnicity groups. More education and a self‐employed father propel self‐employment choices for West Germans only. Immigrants are rather pushed into self‐employment to avoid unemployment; however, they are able to traverse the socioeconomic gap through self‐employment. Except for the East Germans, the self‐employed earn more than their salaried counterparts, and immigrants fare the best, having the highest earnings of all groups. For immigrants, entrepreneurship maybe a way of “making” it in the new country. While self‐employment is a lucrative choice for immigrants, their rates remain low.Originality/valueThis study produces new empirical evidence on the importance of the self‐employment sector in Germany, where individuals fare well and where immigrants can achieve earnings over‐assimilation compared to natives and higher occupational prestige.

Transgenerational persistence of education as a health risk: findings from the Women Physicians' Health Study.

Whereas the effect of socioeconomic status (SES) on morbidity and mortality is well known, little is known about its transgenerational persistence. We studied SES and health data from the U.S. Women Physicians' Health Study (WPHS). WPHS studied 4,501 women physicians, a group with relatively homogeneously high income, occupational prestige, and educational attainment. In logistic regression models controlling for age and ethnicity, those with better educated mothers ate more fruits and vegetables and were less likely to have a gun in their home; those with better educated fathers were more likely to have a regular physician. There was no significant difference by parents' educational levels in exercise habits, fat consumption, compliance with prevention recommendations, current health status, or history of smoking, hypertension, or dyslipidemia. Parents' (especially mothers') educational levels affect their adult children's health habits and outcomes, even if those adult children are physicians. However, at least among physicians, this differential is small after only one generation of improved SES.

The Social Status of Teachers in Taiwan

The social status of teachers is one of the indicators reflecting the significance attached to education in each culture. This study found that teachers in Taiwan enjoy a relatively higher occupational prestige and an overall greater satisfaction with their jobs than their international counterparts. These outcomes may be attributed to the favourable policies in teacher education and schooling operations adopted by the Taiwanese government over past decades. The roots of these policies are in the cultural, historical and political development of the Taiwanese society. The Chinese cultural tradition, Japanese colonisation and Nationalist rule have all played a role in forming the relatively high social status of teachers in Taiwan. However, as Taiwan has been undergoing major political and cultural transformations in recent years, the policies and public perceptions of teaching may change accordingly; therefore the social status of teachers in Taiwan remains to be closely observed.

Education and Occupations: Reexamining the Conventional Wisdom About Later First Births Among American Mothers

Using biannual Current Population Survey data, this paper reexamines the question of how education and occupations led to the postponement of first births among American mothers in the 1970s through 1990s. Analytical methods in earlier investigations predispose researchers to favor an “investment” model of education's effects, but an alternative method used in this analysis suggests that college attainment's major effect on age at first birth is primarily the result of years spent childless in college. Mothers-to-be in higher prestige occupations did delay motherhood longer than did those in other occupations. This study extends earlier research by examining whether or not conclusions drawn about all women (with and without children) apply to the majority of women—those who become mothers. The expansion of higher education, higher prestige occupations, and their impact on work and family decisions are discussed.

Getting Ahead in the GDR

This paper deals with the returns to social capital in occupational attainment in the GDR, once a communist showcase. It examines the extent to which getting ahead in an industrial communist society depends on social capital, which by existing research was shown to be the case in agrarian communist and capitalist industrial societies. Industrial technology and a Marxist ideology supposedly both impede particularism, suggesting that social capital is not that important for getting ahead. In addition, the relationship between the use of and access to social resources is explored. Retrospective data from two random samples collected in 1992 and 1993 in Leipzig and Dresden have been used to test our expectations. Although universalism seemingly dominated the attainment process, as a person's education was more important than his father's resources, nearly half of the employed got their jobs through some informal channel. Yet, the use of informal resources only led to a better job if the contact person had high occupational prestige. Part of the influence of human capital on occupational achievement should be attributed to the effect of a person's social capital, i.e. a contact person with high prestige. Access to occupations through informal ties did not imply that these ties were used. Although one reached higher occupational ranks through weak ties (acquaintances), access through strong ties (friends or relatives) was crucial for finding a contact person with high prestige. This probably reflects the high damage potential of using illegal particularistic ties under communism. Using a high prestige contact person was far more important for getting a better job than having access to higher occupations.

Which “Haves” Come Out Ahead and Why? Cultural Capital and Legal Mobilization in Frontline Law Enforcement

Sociolegal theories of why “haves” might come out ahead in the legal system have emphasized legal mobilization and the use of legal representation. Small group research points to the influence of cultural capital on social expectations and interpersonal processes of social influence and deference as another potential explanation for status advantage. This study tests these explanations in the context of state income tax audits. The results indicate that taxpayers owning larger businesses are more likely to mobilize legally, but that legal mobilization does not affect audit outcomes. Instead, taxpayers with high occupational prestige and the owners of family businesses are more likely to come out ahead in tax audits, pointing to a cultural capital explanation of why the “haves” come out ahead. Prestige effects, however, are concentrated among taxpayers who represent themselves; when tax practitioners are involved in audits, status advantages disappear. Further analyses indicate that tax practitioners level the playing field by disrupting social influence and deference processes.

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS: THE VIEWS OF CITY COUNCIL AND SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS

This paper explores the attitudes regarding affirmative action of 112 members of city councils and school boards in twelve American cities. In‐depth interviews with these officials reveal widespread support for affirmative action policies generally and for more moderate approaches to affirmative action in particular. Our analysis suggests that more aggressive forms of affirmative action—establishing quotas in hiring and setasides when awarding contracts—are especially opposed by conservatives and those in high prestige occupations and by school board members who are wary of giving priority to social justice over securing highly qualified teachers. Our analysis also suggests that extensive support for more moderate forms of affirmative action—giving preference to qualified minority candidates, requiring minority participation by companies that do business with the city, training and mentoring persons from disadvantaged groups, and taking extraordinary steps to recruit blacks and women into public offices—is rooted in concerns about morality and justice.

Occupational Sex-Typing and Occupational Prestige

The study examines the impact of occupational prestige (high, medium, and low) on sex-typing of occupations in Israel based on gender and age group (adolescents, university students, and teachers). No differences in sex-typing of high-prestige occupations were found across age groups. At the low and medium occupational prestige levels, however, the adolescents and teachers showed a greater tendency toward sex-typing than did the students. Regarding gender differences, the female respondents showed a greater tendency toward occupational sex-typing at the high-and medium-prestige levels than did the males, regardless of age. Both the males and females perceived the high-prestige occupations as more feminine than the medium- and low-prestige occupations. Based on the findings, the article provides practical recommendations for educating adolescents toward less stereotyped perspectives of occupational gender roles.

Influence of Socioeconomic Status on the Effectiveness of Dietary Counselling in Healthy Volunteers

A controlled trial was conducted in order to estimate the population uptake and effectiveness of dietary behavior change counselling in higher and lower socioeconomic status groups. Four hundred and seventy-nine volunteers were recruited by personal letter of invitation from two randomly selected population samples in an Australian city. The samples were selected in such a way as to be likely to include large numbers of people of high and low occupational prestige, which was the measure of socioeconomic status used in this study. The volunteers represented 24% of the whole sample, with 32% of those from the higher status suburbs participating compared to 20% of those from the lower status suburbs. The dietary counselling intervention was based on behavior change techniques and social learning theories. The one-time counselling session with follow-up after 3 months included personalized feedback on dietary habits, goal setting, and specific advice on dietary behavior change from a qualified dietitian. Over the intervention period, higher and lower occupational prestige groups were observed to make equivalent food group intake changes. The lower prestige group achieved a greater reduction in fat density and a greater increase in carbohydrate density, while the higher prestige group achieved a greater increase in polyunsaturated fat density, reflecting differences in initial nutrient density levels. Although response rates between prestige groups differed, the effectiveness of dietary behavior change counselling was not found to be dependent on the occupational prestige of the volunteers. It was concluded that this type of strategy is equally efficacious in volunteers regardless of their socioeconomic status, but is less effective as a public health measure in lower status groups.

Characteristics of Students who Express Stable or Undecided Occupational Expectations during Early Adolescence

A predictive discriminant analysis (PDA) was used to classify students who expressed stable or undecided occupational expectation patterns during early adolescence. High school sophomores ( N = 6,935) who completed questionnaires in Grades 8 and 10, as part of the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88), comprised the data pool. Significant gender differences were found in the distribution of adolescents across four occupational expectation groups. Female adolescents were more likely to expect high-prestige and low-prestige occupations, whereas more male adolescents expressed moderate-prestige expectations. PDA results indicated that educational aspirations contributed the most to classification accuracy for both male and female adolescents with high-prestige expectations. Undecided female adolescents were characterized by a generalized and negative self-perception, whereas undecided male adolescents were characterized by a focused and negative perception of eventual occupational attainment.

Occupational Aspirations and Early Career-Choice Patterns of Adolescents with and without Learning Disabilities

The National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) database was used to examine the influence of gender and learning disability status on the occupational aspirations and career-choice patterns of adolescents at grades 8 and 10. Results indicated that adolescents with learning disabilities displayed different career-choice patterns and strategies than their nondisabled peers at two points early in the career-exploration stage: Youth with learning disabilities were less likely to aspire to high-prestige occupations and were more likely to be indecisive about future occupational alternatives. Females with learning disabilities appeared to be at particularly high risk of setting limits on their occupational futures. In terms of career-choice patterns, nondisabled youth were more likely to identify occupations within a particular prestige level and remain consistent from grade 8 to grade 10. By comparison, youth with learning disabilities were more likely to express lower or indecisive aspirations in early adolescence and then report higher aspirations in mid-adolescence.

The Hiring Process

The NOS survey data show that U.S. establishments use a variety of methods for publicizing the availability of job opportunities to potential workers. Newspaper advertisements and informal referrals from employees are used most frequently. Referrals are more often used together with other approaches than as a sole recruitment strategy; those establishments that rely exclusively on “network hiring” tend to be small, less formalized, and in the private sector. Organizations display strong proclivities to rely on the same approaches to recruitment for different types of employees, but there are occupationally related variations in recruiting techniques. Professional referrals and advertisements are more typical approaches for high-prestige occupations than for low ones, and some variations in recruitment practices are associated with occupational gender composition.

Occupational Prestige as a Function of Occupant's Gender

To examine sex bias in occupational prestige, 250 male and 250 female undergraduate and graduate students in Bombay were asked to rate the respectability of 16 occupations, each with male and female occupants (e.g., a male scientist, a female scientists, etc.). Thus, the study had a 2 (subject's sex) × 2 (occupant's gender) × 16 (occupations) mixed design, with occupant's gender and occupations as within‐subjects factors. All of the main and interaction ANOVA effects were significant. The findings clearly supported the primary hypothesis that both male and female subjects would show a sex bias in favor of the male occupant in cases of high prestige occupations.

Mediating Effect of Prestige on Occupational Stereotypes

180 undergraduates rated level of aspiration and likelihood of success for male or female targets of high, low, or unknown physical attractiveness possessing masculine, feminine, or androgynous gender characteristics for occupations varying in prestige and gender orientation. Perceived level of aspiration and likelihood of success was influenced by sex of target only for female-oriented occupations. Physical attractiveness increased the perceived likelihood of success in high prestige male-oriented and neutral occupations. Gender characteristics influenced perceived level of aspiration for all high prestige occupations but for only one low prestige occupation. Results are discussed relative to changing stereotypes in today's society.

Access to occupations through social ties

Previous studies which examine the theory linking social resources to instrumental action have focused on a particular activated set of social ties in order to assess the effects of social resources on a specific action (finding a job or finding a stranger). However, the theory also implies that an individual's access to such social resources is contingent upon his/her social position as well as the nature of the social ties used. Assuming positions in the occupational structure represent resources, this paper reports a study designed to examine access to occupations through social ties. Data tend to support two major propositions in the theory. The strength of positions (as indicated by father's occupation) as well as the strength of ties (as indicated by the nature of the tie being a relative, friend or acquaintance) affect one's access to high-prestige occupations and affect the range of occupations accessed. Higher original positions and weaker ties (friends and acquaintances rather than relatives) provide better access to white-collar or more prestigious occupations, and, as a consequence, provide access to a wider range of occupations. Weaker ties provide better access to social resources than stronger ties, especially for those whose original positions are relatively low. There is also some evidence that friends, as opposed to relatives and acquaintances, may provide the widest access to different positions in the occupational structure. However, this finding is tentative since access through acquaintances may have been underestimated due to the particular measure used and to the possibility of a recall problem.

Academic Achievement among Australian Youth

The importance of various attitudinal and motivational dispositions and of various external influences on the academic achievement of students completing the final year (Year 12) of secondary schooling in three Australian States (Victoria, Western Australia, and Queensland) is examined. A model of academic achievement is proposed, and step-wise multiple regression is used to analyse the data. While social origins and type of school attended are found to be significant in predicting Year 12 achievement, the most important predictors are the motivational and attitudinal dispositions of the students, the influence of significant other people, and the type of Year 12 course studied. Students who do well in Year 12 are more likely to have parents who are well educated, to have fathers who hold higher prestige occupations, and to have attended an independent rather than a government school. Factors which appear to be most important to Year 12 success are: how students regard their own ability; what type of course they study at Year 12 level; and the amount of positive teacher encouragement to proceed to further studies perceived by students.

Equality and differentiation of time spent in paid work in two-income families

The cumulative data from the National Opinion Research Center General Social Survey for 1972–1978 are used to test a model of allocation of time to work in families in which both spouses are employed. Using number of hours worked during the previous week as a dependent variable, we find that for white respondents, women work fewer hours than men; fathers of preteenaged children work more hours than other men, while mothers of preteens work fewer hours than other women; both men and women work more hours when they have higher prestige occupations; and both work more hours if their status (measured by education and prestige) is equal to or higher than their spouses'. Number of hours reported for spouse in the previous week is positively related to number of hours reported by respondent. The model suggests that within two-income families equality of occupational status is associated with equality of occupational involvement, while inequality of occupational status is associated with lower occupational involvement of the spouse with lower status.

Does the Degree of Consensus on Occupational Status Evaluations Differ by Socioeconomic Stratum? Response to Guppy

Very few persons of high school age ever will become Supreme Court Justices, yet nearly all would agree that Supreme Court Justices have very high occupational prestige. A substantial percentage will become manual laborers, although it is widely agreed that manual labor, while important, carries relatively low occupational prestige. People's entry into occupations is conditioned both by societal allocation mechanisms and by individual aspirations; and the latter have multiple sources, not all of which are closely connected to occupational prestige Jencks). Still, the proposition remains,

Engagement in behavioral family therapy: A multisite investigation

For 2 years, eight sites providing behavioral family treatment collected data about demographic characteristics, the type of intervention provided, and the record of treatment attendance, yielding data on 181 families. A stepwise discriminant analysis found four functions which distinguished between locations: family communication training, home token economy, marital intervention, and parent support group, and accounted for 76% of between-locations variance. These functions describe naturally occurring clusters of treatment and family characteristics, suggesting that properties of the family ecology were taken into account when type of behavioral family intervention was selected. A second discriminant analysis contrasted families engaged (74%) and not engaged (26%) in treatment and found that engaged families tended to receive family communication training (often together with other types of intervention) and to have fathers and mothers with high occupational prestige, fathers who worked many hours, and two natural parents. Taken together these results suggest that evaluation of a behavioral family intervention must consider background family characteristics as well as the magnitude of family behavior change.